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Established 1S44. THE PRESS AND BANNER ABBEVILLE, S. C. The Press and Banner Company Published Tri-Weekly Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Entered as second-class matter at post office in Abbeville, S. C. Terms of Subscription: One Year $2.00 Six Months $1.001 Three Months -50 j ( Foreign Advertising Representative | AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION MONDAY, MAY 15, 1922. CRITICISING THE COURT. I The Newberry Observer inquires: "Not criticising the court; but didn't Judge Smith trench some what upon the functions of a jury when he decided the Foster rates in the telephone case are "excessive and confiscatory?" Judge Smith certainly did notj trench on the functions of the jury | in the case referred to. In the first! place the case is in equity and is not; triable by a jury at all. In the second [ place, we take it, the Observer is i either not acquainted with the status of the case, or is not informed as to i the rules of pleading. The complaint j in the case, in a nutshell, alleges that j the rates complained of are confisca-j tory. The defendants have not yet: answered the complaint, and it must; be taken as true in all its allegations 1 until it is denied, certainly at this] stage of the case. Instead of answer-! ing, the defendants demurred, which means in plain English that for thej purpose of their motion they admit; all the allegations of the complaint, j including the allegation that the rates are confiscatory, but claimed that' notwithstanding the action could not be maintained. Judge Smith did not decide that the rates are confiscatory. The defendant admitted this by de murring. Judge Smith merely held that upon the face of pleadings the action could be maintained, but he gave the de fendants thirty days in which to answer the complaint, and to put in issue any or all the allegations there of. When this is done the case will be-tried on its merits. The court will then determine as a matter of fact whether the rates are confiscatory. This statement of the status of the case will, we believe satisfy the Ob server and others that the case is proceeding along proper lines, and that Judge Smith made not only a legal, but a sensible order in the case. We imagine that if the case had been brought before the Observer and the other side had admitted that the rates were confiscatory, so good a newspaper as the Observer would have held as did Judge Smith. If the legislature had passed an Act provid ing that the Observer and Press and Banner should carry state or county advertising at five cents per inch, and if it had been mandatory under the Act that such advertisement be car ried at this rate, we, of the newspa per fraternity, would have thought that we had very poor courts if we could not have relief from such leg islation. We do not say that the rates of the telephone comnanies are not. too high, but when a litigant for the purpose of a motion, admits that the rates are confiscatory, the courts would be impotent to dispense jus tice if the rates could not be en joined. We regret to see so good a news paper as the Observer, a newspaper noted for the soundness of its edito rial writings and the conservatism of its speech, making such criticism of the courts, because criticism it is, whether so intended or nat. The courts are the only bulwarks of lib erty in this country. If you succeed in undermining the confidence of the people in the courts, as will be done by euch criticism, every thing is bedlam. As we said above we express no opinion as to the question of fact about whether telephone rates are too high or too low. But it is a little strange to us that when the state had a unounai witn power to couecx iacts and make reasonable rates for tele phones, railroads and other public carriers, the legislature itself under took, under circumstances where it could not make a judicial and fair in vestigation, to fix rates for a public carrier. It smacks a little to us of persecution and confiscation! Either the railroad commission should be abolished or it should be allowed to'--** fix rates for public carriers. If the c present scheme of selecting the men & who compose that body is not condu- . I s cive to selecting good men, then letU I us try some other scheme. But in j t dealing with the people who invest t their money in the state, let us deal' t fairly, let us give them a fair hearing beiore a competent tnounai, wnere there can be a full hearing and a judicial determination of the facts of every case. As long as we do not do that and undertake to do otherwise the courts of the country will deter mine under the Constitution, of the United States whether property is being taken without due process of law. THE WHEELS OF INDUSTRY ARE MOVING (Manufacturers Record.) Railroads are ordering material to a greater extent than for a good many years. Building contractors are finding an increasing and almost an incessant demand for their work. Building materials are tending to lvgher prices and to an increasing J scarcity of supply. The demand for ^ lumber grows apace and the trend of . prices is upward. In some sections the 1 supply of skilled- labor is scarcely 1 equal to the demand, though there is (j still a large amount of unskilled la- . bor out of employment. * r Highway improvement is proceed ing at a rate which must soon tax the facilities of highway contractors and the people who supply road-build ng equipment. With the certainty that the country has entered upon an era of highway building of which as yet we have seen only the beginning, there is a vast volume of business a head for highway workers. The demand for pig iron, long dor mant to such an extent that the in dustry seemed almost dead, is in creasing, and the advance in steel and pig iron has not lessened the de mand for these materials. Indeed, people always buy on a rising market and cease to buy on a declining mar ket. No sooner had the country come to a full realization of the fact an nounced many months ago . by the Manufacturers Record that the entire financial policy of the country had been reversed, and that President Harding's boast that lowering dis ; count rates and thus stimulating the credit facilities of the country was ^ one of the most important actions of h'"s administration, than the far-see ing people of the country began to get ready for business. 1 I | With every decrease in interest . | rates there has come an advance in | the price of government bonds and in the general security market, ful filling in that respect every state ment which the Manufacturers Rec- . ord has made during the past two years. The demand for new securities has been so tremendous as to aston ish the country and show the enor- C mous buying power of the American C people. Co-incident with the lowering of ' discount rates and the advance in \ the stock and bond market has come a betterment in farm conditions with . . . . . ... - higher prices for agricultural prod- ^ ucts. The War Finance Corporation has continued its active operation of lending money to assist farmers and livestock raisers, and in many cases |C the very fact that this corporation j was prepared to advance money for'^ these purposes has caused local banks j, to loosen up in their credits, and thus the money actually loaned by the] War Finance Corporation has been I . only one of the benefits derived from i its operations. i * Business is not yet by any means r at full tide, but it is moving forward rapidly, and when it reaches full tide . every transportation facility in the ^ country will be heavily overtaxed u/ifVi q 1 arnror tta!nma fVio*? can be handled, and the manufactur ing interests and the building and construction work of the country c will likewise be fully taxed. 1 All of this condition can be hasten- . ed by a lowering of freight rates, which would stimulate the volume of . traffic exactly as the lowering of dis- . count rates stimulated the revival of | confidence and building operations. High discount rates and high freight rates have been a burden on business. c The tide has turned. The surge is on. But if we would reap a full meas ure of prosperity we must hasten the plans for better financing of the ^ agricultural interests on a safer and broader foundation than agriculture has ever had before; hasten the low- c Jering of freight and passenger rates, i: i.nd when these things have been ac> :omplished we shall go forward wit! l stride of seven league boots to t >rosperity which will furnish profit ible employment for the day laborei ind the mechanic, for the capital 01 he country and for profitable produc inn in aoriculture. in manufactures tnd in mineral operations. Glory be, a change has come, anc he wheels are moving! COTTON LETTER May cotton has crossed 20 cent* ather rapid confirmation of our sp& :ial report issued just over a weel tgo, although the advance into thii 5TOund naturally was not sustained t was a sort of , testing movemeni _j j;-i _ j 1 inu Cbisiu'ugeu *:uxisiueiaiuie scuixi^ a\ night have been?iwas?expected Short as the time has been the ac ion of the cotton market points, w< lelieve, to an early movement of the lew crop months into 20-cent terri ory and w? suggest the purchase ol )ctober and December contracts or ill recessions. The market should ease off some vhat. The advance of $7 to $8.50 i ale recently has weakened the tech lical position. The advance has ibeer hie almost entirely to speculative nterest in the market and the de nand for the actual has not de eloped yet, although it will in du( ourse. Liverpool and Japanese buy ng as well as purchases iby spol louses testifies tothis. It is verj ivident that consumption, the com ng year, will be well in excess oi he 1922 crop. The current year': :onsumption already has gone mud >eyond the 1921 out-turn. We dc lot look for dullness to develop, bu1 ather anticipate a moderate reces ion followed by a new advance thai nay fbe even more suddenly develop id than the recent movement. Springs and Co. .OWNDESVILLE AND LEVEL LAND INFESTED WITH BAD MEP> Mrs. W. L. Bowman of Lowndes ille was an interested spectator an< in unusually bright witness in thi ase before Judge Gary Saturday in 'olving the custody of an infan ihild of that community. Mrs. Bow nan has been residing around Lown lesv'ille a good many years but ha lot yet succeeded in reforming th >ad men in that section it would seen rom her testimony, because whei tsked if she thought a man who ha< ecently been convicted of manu racturing and selling liquors was i iroper custodian for a girl child the: n the custody of another, she replie< hat she did not think him any worsi han a good many other men whon ;he knew who w/sre running aroun< Irinking liquor and gambling. Tha s somewhat of a strong indictmen >f the men about Lowndesville. Not stopping there she even ac :used some of them of going as fa >ver as Level Land to engage in li luor-drinking and card-playing. Shi lid not say so, but we judge shi vould regret to hear her Cousin Da ris and Uncle Jim had visited in th< vicinity of Level Land, and prehap inticed some of their unsuspectinj riends into that alleged ill-behavet iquor-drinking and card-playinj leighborhood. Mayor Walter Wilson should cleai iut the bad men in his town at once f he does not it may be necessary or the Press and Banner to run it loll-weevil machine through the vil age and give it a dusting. If we can lot clean up Level Land and Lown lesville that way perhaps somebody vill nominate Mrs. Bowman for th< State Senate, where she could be o: ,rreat assistance in relieving the situ ition of which she complains, that i: f the present Senator cannot fi: flings, /vs maneis nuw otanu i eems to us that Mrs. Bowman be ieves the men about Lowndesvilli tnd Level Land about as bad a i man who takes a bath in his nigh :lothes for no other reason thai >ecause he has 'em on when he fall: n the bathtub. Mrs. Bowman will be rememberec n Abbeville as one of the attractiv* laughters of Dr. D. S. Benson, wh< esided on his plantation near Abbe 'ille, the plantation being made uj if three tracts known as Zigzag Sheep-walk and Muttonham. Beethoven was 12 years old whei le became organist in a chnrch a ionn, Germany. About 89,000 British soldiers, in luding 2,000 officers, lost limbs dur ng the war. I TROOPS CALLED OUT AS NEGROES STRIKE More Than Fifteen Hundred Quit ' Work at New York Brick Plants. 3! Haverstraw, N. Y., May 13.?A handful of state troopers from White 11 Plains tonight were patrolling the streets of this Hudson river town, ready to quell any disorder which might result from a sudden strike of 1,500 to 1,800 negro workers who s have succeeded in shutting down 16 - brick plants scattered along about c two miles of water front. 3 It was reported during the day that . mere troops would be brought from t 'Albany and Troy but it was decided 3 that enough men now were on nand .'unless any trouble occurs tomorrow - which ordinarily is pay day. ;| Most of the strikers arrived within ?i the last few weeks from the South. 'Employers described them as "float Ejing labor," explaining that they were 1 accustomed to hire extra hands in | spring and fall, as brick making was -|a seasonal industry. i The only disturbance of the day was a fight between a trooper and a > negro, in which the latter had an i arm broken. LIBRARY BENEFIT OPERA HOUSE , TUESDAY, MAY 16th "BEAUTY'S WORTH" With Marion Davies, Forrest Stanley and others. Come out and see this beau tiful nicture and helD the . V V 15c. ADMISSION 35c. V U. S. Geological Survey has a huge camera which has to be operated by small electric cranes. Buy Val losing sight of < effort to quote Consider wnat you ge Our aim is to see hou not how much we can leav We offer you SUMM] quality and service. Summer Suits $12, o M Gi | 1 he hgypti * an Op Presen I 50 STUDENTS OF s LEGE and Abbeville 0 WEDNESDAY, M |j BENEFIT ABBEVII I ATHLETIC A )| CHILDREN .. 35c; fi PFQFRVFn WATS Ill ? ue! Don't Be Ini By Prices Alone quality standards, offering chea; "low prices." t for your money?not just the r much GOOD QUALITY we ca e out. ER CLOTHES that are backed .50, $13.50, $15.00, $1* F R Rr I wen Brothers arble and ranite Co. gners ufacturers :tors largest and beat equipped mo? lental mills in the Carolina*. geenwood, s. c. an Princess eratta ted By...... WOMAN'S COL ERSKINE .at.... pera House j | AY 17,8:30 P. M. jle high school | ; ssociation : .. ADULTS 50c. |j i 75c. j , ply made, inferior Clotb i price. n get into our SUITS? by a GUARANTEE, for $.00, $20 and $25.00 \hhst, I